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"Effective online instruction depends on learning experiences appropriately designed and facilitated by knowledgeable educators. Because learners have different learning styles or a combination of styles, online educators should design activities that address their modes of learning in order to provide significant experiences for each class participant. In designing online courses, this can best be accomplished by utilizing multiple instructional strategies. Teaching models exist which apply to traditional higher education learning environments, and when designing courses for the online environment, these strategies should be adapted to the new environment."

Access and Equity in eLearning online tutorial developed by the Australian Flexible Learning Network. This interactive tutorial provides a concrete look at the difference between universally designed and non-universally designed web-based resources as they impact people with various disabilities, and includes pointers for how to design and/or adjust web-based learning environments to make them more accessible.

"Because learners have different learning styles or a combination of styles, online educators should design activities that address their modes of learning in order to provide significant experiences for each class participant. In designing online courses, this can best be accomplished by utilizing multiple instructional strategies"

"Backward design begins with the end in mind: What enduring understandings do I want my students to develop? How will my students demonstrate their understanding when the unit is completed? How will I ensure that students have the skills and understand the concepts required on the summative assessment?"

An awesome collection of rubrics by Kathy Schrock at Discovery Education.

Now that we are using the Internet in the classroom to support instruction, it is important the area of assessment be addressed. One usable method for teachers is to provide a rubric for student use and for both formative and summative assessment purposes. Another is to provide some type of graphic organizer. Below you will find a collection of assessment rubrics and graphic organizers that may be helpful to you as you design your own. Let me know if you have one you would like to share! A book dealing with both the theoretical and practical design of rubrics is the ASCD publication, Assessing Student Outcomes: Performance Assessment Using the Dimensions of Learning Model.

""Adults vote with their feet," a favorite adage of adult educators, is frequently used to describe a characteristic of adult learners. In most circumstances, adults are not captive learners and, if the learning situation does not suit their needs and interests, they will simply stop coming. In discussing adult education, Knowles (1980, 1984) distinguished between teacher-centered and learner-centered instruction. He promoted the latter because it viewed learners as mutual partners in the learning endeavor (Merriam and Caffarella 1991). Known as the andragogical model, the use of learner-centered instruction--which supports addressing the needs and interests of learners--is regularly championed in the literature as the most effective way to teach adults. However, Merriam and Caffarella (ibid.) assert that "adult learning in formal settings, for the most part, is still instructor designed and directed" (p. 26). Given the wide support for learner involvement, the discrepancy between adult education theory and practice is perplexing. How can instructors of adults become more learner centered in their practice? This ERIC Digest suggests guidelines and strategies that can be used in formal settings by instructors of adults to involve learners more effectively. "

More search options About Us Born on August 24, 2007. RTI Tools was designed to be a resource for teachers, school psychologists, speech pathologists, school interventionists, parents, etc. in their efforts to implement response to intervention (RTI).

This article focuses on how materials developed for web-based instruction must follow established instructional design principles in order to be effective and viable means of education.

"Whether you're into digital photography, web design and development, motion graphics, or just need to brush up on Excel, you can learn all the software skills you need to gain a competitive edge with our online tutorials."

Whether you're looking for ways to incorporate technology into the classroom or into your daily life, the Internet has the tools you need. There are lots of free web apps and websites designed specifically for tech-loving teachers on a tight budget:

Teaching and learning math with SMART Notebook software is now easier, more interactive and, of course, more fun. That's because the SMART Notebook Math beta is now available to download. SMART Notebook Math extends the capabilities of SMART Notebook software with a dynamic set of math-specific tools and features, so when you create and explore lessons on your SMART Board interactive whiteboard, you only need one application. Designed specifically for middle and high school math classrooms, SMART Notebook Math has built-in features such as an equation editor and custom graph builder. You can manipulate shapes, use interactive measurement tools and even launch your Texas Instruments brand emulator from right within the software. SMART Notebook Math is also the first interactive whiteboard application to have handwriting recognition for mathematical symbols. Try the beta today, and you'll discover that everything you need to make math more interactive is in the software you already love. The beta ends October 1, 2009, and the Microsoft Windows version will be available to purchase in fall 2009.

"Designed specifically for education stakeholders with an interest in the education technology world, SmartBrief on Ed Tech is a FREE, daily e-mail newsletter. It provides you with the tools to navigate this constantly evolving area to make the best possible decisions for your schools."

"Welcome to the Siemens STEM Academy site: A premier online community designed exclusively to foster achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) through the collaboration of STEM educators, and sharing of "best practices"."

a wonderful resource that is interactive and easy to use.

Flash "tutorials" for "Bloom's Taxonomy - An Overview" and "Bloom's Taxonomy - Designing Activities". These are GREAT interactive flash elements! The first one just gives an overview of each step of Bloom's and the second one gives you ideas for activities at each level. LOVE IT!

"Speck (1996) notes that the following important points of adult learning theory should be considered when professional development activities are designed for educators: "

Literacy Collaborative is a comprehensive school reform project designed to improve the reading, writing, and language skills of elementary children. The cornerstone of this project is dynamic, long-term professional development. School-based literacy coordinators are trained in research-based methods; provided with ongoing professional development as they continually implement research-based approaches in their own classrooms; and supported as they provide on-site training for the teachers in their schools. The goal of this comprehensive effort is to significantly raise the level of literacy achievement for all students

The Instructional Coaching Scale is designed to help  instructional coaches and professional developers measure the impact of their coaching on the teachers with whom they interact.  It is not intended to measure teacher implementation, but rather the effects that an instructional coach or some other person working in a close 1:1 capacity with teachers whose job it is to facilitate change in instructional practice.  

a fun way to send or use a message

Google Wonder Wheel is a new great feature from Google which allows you to see relevant search results to your query in a unique semantically relevant and graphically design way. The following is a step by step guide on how to use the GoogleWonderWheel tool:

this is so cool. type in text, hit ok, then draw the shape you want and voila!!! you have a really cool text object!